The first book in the Elizabethan Lawyers series is Murder By Misrule. The manuscript is complete at 93,000 words.

Thomas Clarady, the son of a wealthy privateer, enrolls at Gray's Inn as a law student, eager to acquire the name and polish of a gentleman. A man of fashion in Elizabethan London finds much to occupy his time, especially as Christmas approaches. Between pageants, dancing and fencing lessons, Tom struggles to learn a little of the law. He'll do whatever it takes to climb the social ladder. When his tutor is murdered on Queen's Day, Tom has to find a new one to maintain his position, no matter what the price.

Francis Bacon in 1586 is 25 years old: a barrister without clients; a courtier without position; a genius with neither project nor patron. When a senior barrister is murdered on Queen's Day, Bacon's uncle, the Lord Treasurer, charges him with discovering the killer. Bacon is eager to curry favor with his powerful uncle, but he isn't pleased by the prospect of long hours running about searching for clues and talking to strangers. The investigation threatens to curtail his reading time. He needs assistants, but how to pay them?

Tom asks Bacon to be his new tutor. Bacon promptly sets him a practicum, sending him out to collect the facts in the case and deliver them to his chambers.

Tom falls in love. Barristers fall down stairs. Everyone has something up his pinked and padded sleeve. Even Francis Bacon is at a loss, until he sees through the disguises of the season of Misrule.